German energy company EnBW has reached a final investment decision (FID) on the 960MW He Dreiht offshore wind farm in Germany.
The German offshore wind farm in the North Sea involves an investment cost of nearly €2.4bn and will be built without using state subsidies.
The plan approval decision and the permit for the offshore wind farm were received by EnBW from the German Federal Maritime and Hydrographic Agency (BSH) in December 2022.
EnBW has also announced the divestiture of a 49.9% stake in the He Dreiht offshore farm to a consortium comprising Allianz Capital Partners, AIP, and Norges Bank Investment Management. The financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.
Besides, the company has secured an additional €600m in long-term financing from the European Investment Bank (EIB) to fund the offshore wind project.
EnBW CEO Andreas Schell said: “The final investment decision for the construction of our He Dreiht offshore wind farm is an important milestone in accelerating the energy transition.
“Long planning horizons and extensive preparatory work in the offshore wind industry require a high degree of foresight, expertise and readiness to make decisions and invest. This is another big step towards a carbon-free energy future.”
The project will be located about 85km northwest of the Borkum island and about 110km west of Heligoland. It is anticipated to produce clean energy which will be enough to power 1.1 million households.
The He Dreiht offshore wind farm will feature 64 wind turbines from Vestas, each with a capacity of 15MW. It is expected to commence operations by the end of 2025.
TenneT will construct the grid connection with an offshore converter station and two HVDC export cables, which will cover a distance of 120km underwater and 110km onshore.
The installation works are expected to take place between April 2023 and August 2024.
According to EnBW, turbine and cable installation is scheduled to run from April this year to August 2025.
EnBW has secured several long-term power purchase agreements (PPAs) for the He Dreiht offshore wind farm from various companies including Evonik, Salzgitter, Fraport, and Bosch. These are for a capacity of 335MW.
